The Nigeria Election Debate Group (NEDG), yesterday, debunked rumours
that the group had leaked election debate questions to the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan,
just as it fixed 1, 8 February 2015 for Vice Presidential and
Presidential debates respectively.
The Chairman of the NEDG, Mr Shola Omole stated this during a press
conference on the preparation of the Presidential Debates organised by
the NEDG, in Abuja.
Omole, who is also the Director General of the Nigeria Television
Authority (NTA), said 13 out of 14 political parties recognized by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had indicated interest
to take part in the debate.
He maintained that NEDG is an apolitical group that was made up of the
media and people of impeccable characters from the society, therefore,
it had no interest on who wins the forthcoming presidential election.
According to him, “As of right now I can say that 13 political parties
have confirmed that they will attend the debate. We are still working on
it and we still have a few days to go before the debate.
“I will like to state that the NEDG is not a partisan organization but a
collection of media people, civil society organizations, professional
associations who have an interest in ensuring that Nigerians have better
adequate and relevant information to enhance their ability to be able
to take a decision on voting day.
“As we speak, the questions that are going to be asked on the date of
the debate are still being worked upon by our debate committee. Those
questions are not ready; as I am speaking to you, the questions are not
yet ready; there is still work in progress. Therefore, there is
absolutely no reason why anybody will have the questions right now.”
The Media Consultant to the NEDG, Mr Taiwo Allimi disclosed that over
3,000 questions had been submitted to the group from Nigerians, adding
that the election debate would be “issues based and issues driven”.
Allimi explained that the platform would not give any score card, and
that, “there will be non-participatory audience; the audience is not to
clap, yell or laugh during the entire debate.
“It is on the date of the debate, when the debate is about to go on air
that we (the NEDG) will now give the moderators and the panelists the
questions they will be asking the candidates.”
NEDG Denies Leaking Questions to Jonathan, PDP
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Oleh
healthandwealth
